Boyd v. Smith

Opinion by

Mr. Chief Justice Horace Stern,

The decision in this case turns upon the question of the validity of a clause in a lease relieving the lessor from liability by reason of injury to any person in the demised premises resulting from the lessor’s negligence.

The original defendant, Gus Besterman, was the owner of premises 1530 N. 19th Street, Philadelphia. This was a three story building, containing two apartments on each floor, which were rented to tenants. It was unquestionably a tenement within the meaning of the Act of June 3, 1915, P. L. 954, section 4, which defines that term as…